Harry Reid's Office Is Calling on Trump to Start Being a Goddamn Leader

This is an encouraging thing to see from Democratic leaders right now.

After the election of Donald Trump, Harry Reid came out and released a powerful statement that refused to be party to the normalization of Trump that was beginning to happen at the hands of the media. Suddenly discussion of our President-elect's racist, xenophobic, and sexist language was being back-burnered. His election wasn't being treated as a referendum on where we are on those issues as a nation, but rather was resold as simple "change." Here's a sample of what Reid had to say:

If this is going to be a time of healing, we must first put the
responsibility for healing where it belongs: at the feet of Donald
Trump, a sexual predator who lost the popular vote and fueled his
campaign with bigotry and hate. Winning the electoral college does not
absolve Trump of the grave sins he committed against millions of
Americans. Donald Trump may not possess the capacity to assuage those
fears, but he owes it to this nation to try.

Amen. Did the Trump campaign take comfort in the fact that they won, and maybe internalize some of that criticism? Nope. Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway went on TV and made veiled threats of legal action against Reid for having the audacity to call a bigot a bigot.

“I find Harry Reid’s public comments and insults about Donald Trump and other Republicans to be beyond the pale. They’re incredibly disappointing. Talk about not wanting my children to listen to somebody. He should be very careful about characterizing somebody in a legal sense…I would say be very careful about the way you characterize it.”

“It only took five days for President-elect Trump to try to silence
his critics with the threat of legal action. This should shock and
concern all Americans.

“Trump has always used threats and intimidation to silence his
critics. Now he wants to silence a discussion of the acts of hate and
threats of violence being committed in his name across the country.
Silencing this discussion normalizes hate and intimidates the victims.

“The facts are stark and shocking. Since Trump was elected, acts of
hate against Muslims, Jews, women and people of color have spiked
dramatically. The KKK is planning a parade to celebrate Trump’s
victory because the KKK sees Trump as their champion. Today, a
headline in one newspaper reads, ‘Popular neo-Nazi site urges readers
to troll liberals into suicide,’ while another reads, ‘Post-election
spate of hate crimes worse than 9-11.’

“But instead of rising to the responsibility of his office, Trump is
hiding behind his Twitter account and sending his staff on TV to
threaten his critics.

“If this is going to be a time of healing, Trump must take action
immediately to stop the acts of hate and threats of violence that are
being committed in his name across the country. Trump owes the nation
leadership, not petty attempts to silence his critics.”

This is the kind of leadership we need from Democrats in Congress right now. More than ever, we can't cower and let threats and bigotry stand unopposed. Keep it up Senator Reid.